Food doesn’t get any more family-friendly than pesto. Add ingredients to a food processor, whizz and presto! Pesto is endlessly versatile, healthy, delicious and comes together in seconds. What more is there to say?

Not much… but there are two more things that I want to mention. One is that pesto is way more than a pasta sauce. No matter what kind of pesto, think about using it in salad dressing, as a meat marinade, to dress veggies and whatever else you can think of.

And speaking of kinds of pesto, don’t think that you need basil to make some. In fact, you don’t even necessarily need herbs. Make spinach pesto (with pistachios), kale pesto (with walnuts), arugula pesto (with almonds) or, my new favorite, green olive and sun-dried tomato pesto. (Okay, the green olive pesto calls for basil, but you get the point!)

I got this pesto from Giada. No, she didn’t give it to me personally, but it’s something she shared with a bunch of folks at an event this summer. It’s a brilliant recipe, totally delicious with an unexpectedly fresh flavor. Not bad for something made nearly entirely with ingredients that are either shelf-stable or can be stored in the fridge for a long time. Keep your pantry stocked for this one—it’s a keeper!

Green Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

Recipe by Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

1 cup (6 ounces) sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

1 cup (4 ounces) medium pitted green olives

1 packed cup fresh basil leaves

1 clove garlic, roughly chopped

1/3 cup olive oil

¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)

Zest of 1 large lemon

¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Combine sun-dried tomatoes, olives, basil, garlic, oil, lemon juice and lemon zest in a food processor. Pulse until blended but still chunky. If serving with pasta, toss the tomato mixture, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper with 1 lb of pasta; serve. Otherwise, transfer tomato mixture from the food processor to a bowl and fold in Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper; use however you like or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Stacie Billis is a food writer, recipe developer and blogger at One Hungry Mama. As a mother of two hungry boys, she knows that kids change the way we cook, but they don't have to change how well we eat. Selfish? Sure, but it turns out that feeding kids the good foods we enjoy is the best way to inspire healthy habits for life. Knowing this, Stacie is putting her MA in child development, experience developing an organic family food brand and passion for delicious food to good use as a galvanizing voice for parents in the food revolution. You can also find Stacie as One Hungry Mama on Twitter and Facebook.